Addameer
is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which
focuses on human rights issues. Established in 1992

Electronic Intifada
the Electronic Intifada website promises to equip you to challenge
myth, distortion and spin in the media in an informed way,
enabling you to effect positive changes in media coverage
of the Palestinians and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Christian Right's Emerging Deadly Worldview: Kill Muslims to Purify the Earth
Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out at Christian colleges -- a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy -- to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever tactic. Curly, Larry and Mo, who all say they are born-again Christians, engage in hate speech and assure us it comes from personal experience. They tell their audiences that the only way to deal with one-fifth of the world's population is by converting or eradicating all Muslims. These men are frauds, but this is not the point. They are part of a dark and frightening war by the Christian right against tolerance that, in the moment of another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil, would make it acceptable to target and persecute all Muslims, including the some 6 million Muslims who live in the United States.

UN demands Israel to tear down barrier
The resolution was drafted after the International Court of Justice announced the barrier illegal.The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution demanding Israel to obey a world court ruling to dismantle the Separation barrier on the West Bank and pay compensation to Palestinians affected by its construction.

The
Separation wall
Palestinian sources say that this wall will annex nearly 45% of
the Palestinian lands in the West Bank, and will divide the Palestinian
territories into eight separated areas and 64 ghettos.

Statistics
of Israeli Violations
The following are violations by Israel against the Palestinian People
during the period of 29/9/2000 to 31/05/ 2003, as prepared by International
Press Center

What
Every American Should Know about Israel/Palestine
Americans have an enormous, often little known, connection to the
ongoing and dangerous tragedy that is Israel and Palestine. As lives
of the young and old are increasingly lost and devastated, due in
part to short-sighted US policies, it is inevitable that these policies
will endanger American lives as well. American citizens have the
power to end this carnage.

The
Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
$3 Trillion
Conflicts in the Middle East have been very costly to the U.S.,
as well as to the rest of the world. An estimate of the total cost
to the U.S. alone of instability and conflict in the region—which
emanates from the core, Israeli-Palestinian conflict—amounts
to close to $3 trillion, measured in 2002 dollars. This is an amount
almost four times greater than the cost of the Vietnam war, also
reckoned in 2002 dollars.

Immigrant
Roundup Backfired, Finds Report
Measures taken by the U.S. against Arab and Muslim immigrants after
9/11 have not only failed to protect U.S. security, but may have
made it more vulnerable, according to a major report released last
week.

Mideast
death toll over 3,000
In 33 months of Middle East violence, 2,414 people have been killed
on the Palestinian side and 806 on the Israeli side.

This
Is The Israeli 'Cease Fire'
The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military government have
agreed to a 'cease-fire.' The terminology is, of course, misleading.
It suggests that there are two equal sides at war. The Israeli government,
receiving more than 12 million dollars a day from the US to supplement
its arsenal of 'weapons of mass destruction,' has not ended its
illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

No
One is Safe
Another British boy will soon be coming home in a body bag. He wasn't
shot fighting in Iraq. But he was a soldier. With nonviolence as
his weapon and the supposed protected status of an international,
he fought for the freedom of Palestine.

Israel’s
New Anti-Activist Strategy
The past several weeks have seen the Israeli military taking an
increasingly hard-line new tack towards international anti-occupation
activists in Gaza. Members of the International Solidarity Movement
(ISM), a non-violent group that attempts to provide protection to
Palestinians, have been particularly targeted.

Why
Peacekeepers are Necessary in Palestine
Palestinians have borne a disproportionately large share of human
losses in the present conflict. Not only have over 435 Palestinians
lost their lives, the entire Palestinian population has suffered
untold misery after Israel cut them off from their livelihoods.
Starvation, poverty, fear of reprisal by the Israeli army continue
to haunt a people who for half a century have been at the mercy
of Israel and its powerful Western allies.

Israeli
missile kills 6, plus Hamas leader
An Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile Tuesday night into Gaza
City's crowded Zeitoon neighborhood, Palestinian witnesses said,
a shot that killed the leader of the armed wing of Hamas as well
as six others.

Pressure
Congress to act on the 'Rachel Corrie Resolution'
On March 16 in Rafah, Gaza, Rachel Corrie of Olympia, WA was crushed
to death by an Israeli military bulldozer as she attempted to prevent
the demolition of a Palestinian physician's home. The ongoing destruction
of Palestinian homes and infrastructure by Israeli military forces
is a violation of international law and has been widely condemned
by human rights organisations around the world. House Concurrent
Resolution 111 calls for a U.S. government investigation into the
death of Rachel Corrie, and has been referred to the House Committee
on International Relations.

Israel
Conducts Mass Roundup of Palestinians
April 2, 2003 — Israeli troops rounded up at least 1,000 Palestinians
in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Wednesday in a fresh sweep for
wanted militants after a suicide bomber from the region struck a
nearby Israeli town.

Black
Flags
When I visited Ramallah last, it wore a shining white frock. Even
after days of sunshine, many areas where still covered with snow
that hid the ravages of the occupation, destruction and neglect.

Palestinians
urge sanctions against Israel
A senior Palestinian official urged the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
today to use its influence in the United Nations to win the imposition
of sanctions against Israel. Israeli forces have carried out a series
of armoured raids into the Gaza Strip in the past week, killing
dozens of Palestinians in attacks that have overshadowed new international
peace efforts and roused fresh Palestinian fury.

Palestinians
'sink into extreme poverty'
Poverty has as much effect on Palestinians as violence. Almost three-quarters
of the population are living on less than $2 a day and one-quarter
of all children are anaemic.

Arab
Americans: Making a Difference
There are about 3 million Arab-Americans, and as a community, we've
been demonstrating loyalty, inventiveness, and courage on behalf
of the United States for over 100 years. Here are just a few of
the famous and accomplished ones — people you may know!

Action
Needed To Defend Our Civil LibertiesHundreds
of Muslim and Arab male immigrants from five different countries
were arrested and detained this week. Of note, the Detroit/Dearborn
area has the largest concentration of persons of Arab descent in
the United States. Our Arab brothers in southeast Michigan are at
risk. Demonstrations opposing these detentions and any planned future
detentions are being called throughout the United States. Like the
mass detentions/internment of the Japanese during World War II,
the United States government again is launching a major assault
on the most basic principles of human rights.

Islam
and the West: Incompatibility of Values
In the months following the terrorist attacks of September 2001,
it was politically taboo to say that the United States had in some
way brought these attacks upon itself. Television talk show hosts
and print journalists lost their jobs for suggesting such a thing.
Yet anyone with any serious knowledge of the American relationship
in recent years with the Muslim Middle East knows that it is true.

Stop
calling Islam the enemy
A part of the neoconservative intelligentsia in Washington is trying
to turn the Bush administration's "war against terrorism"
into a war against Muslim civilization and the Islamic religion.

The
Apartheid Wall CampaignUnder
the coordination of the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON),
a number of Palestinian NGOs and grassroots organizations are joining
their efforts against the building of Israels Apartheid Wall.
The Apartheid Wall Campaign has just completed a detailed report
including maps, data, background, photos, and links about the Apartheid
Wall.

Arab,
Jewish Americans Agree Widely on Solution
Despite two years of unprecedented violence between Israelis and
Palestinians, Arab and Jewish Americans generally agree on the outlines
of a final settlement between the two peoples, according to an unprecedented
poll released here Thursday.

Good
Will Towards Who?
It is strange that we, the American people speak of being thankful
and of such noble thoughts as peace on earth and good will towards
men while at the same time, we speak of a war against the Iraqi
people. Also, in the Holy Land, the Palestinian people suffer horrendously
and every day, the toll on the civilian population grows heavier.

A
New Crusade?
"Adolph Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to
the Jews is worse," the 700 Club'sPat Robertson said recently.
"I think Mohammed was a terrorist," said conservative
preacher Jerry Falwell in a televised interview.

US
Muslims suffer backlash
Hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the United States increased
by 1,700% in 2001, according to crime statistics compiled by the
FBI.

BREAKING
NEWS: Bond hearing scheduled, Friday demonstration still on
The INS, against its wishes, has been forced to schedule a bond
hearing for Amer, which will take place next Thursday, November
21st, at 9:00 AM. In one sense, this is a major victory, which everyone
who wrote letters, sent faxes, or made phone calls should take credit
for. The INS arrogantly told Nelson Brill, Amer's lawyer, that they
were going to hold Amer indefinitely (which echoed a previous threat
made to Amer himself by the FBI), and thanks to a combination of
public and legal pressure, they have already had to back down from
their first position.

The
US draft resolution on Iraq
Recognizing the threat Iraq's noncompliance with council resolutions
and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range
missiles poses to international peace and security...

US
Students Interest in Islam SurgesMany
things have changed in America since the events of September 11,
2001. People are no longer free to follow their friends and loved
ones to departure gates at airports. Thousands of Americans now
walk through metal detectors every day when they arrive at work.
And the terrace in front of the U.S. Capitol building, where people
used to go to gaze out over the National Mall and its famous monuments,
is now closed.

Muslims
prepare for Ramadan
Muslims across the world have started fasting for the holy month
of Ramadan, and some used the occasion to condemn militants whose
campaign of violence has triggered a backlash against Islamic communities.

U.S.
Wants Prints Of Muslim VisitorsThe
Justice Department announced yesterday that it will require thousands
of students, workers and other men from five Muslim countries who
are temporarily residing in the United States to be fingerprinted
and photographed, the latest step in its program to register visitors
from countries linked to terrorism.

Meet
the new Zionists
The members of the Christian Coalition of America are some of the
most passionate defenders of Israel in the United States. There's
just one catch: they want to convert all Jews to Christianity.

Web
warfareAcademics
who criticise Israeli actions against the Palestinians are being
targeted by computer hackers.

Palestine
Activism Spammed
Welcome to the concerted cyber-campaign to intimidate pro-Palestine
activists from organizing on the Internet.

In
Olive Groves of the West Bank, a Harvest of Fear
Fear kept the olive pickers off the terraced hillsides today ...
On an olive-clad slope facing a ridge studded with outposts stretching
from the Jewish settlement of Itamar, a few Palestinian villagers
hesitantly ventured out to the spot where their neighbor, Hani Bani
Minyeh, 24, was shot and killed on Sunday.

Palestinian
Rights Group Victim Of Cyber-Terrorism
Unknown opponents to the Students Allied for Freedom and Equality
unlawfully hijacked their email account to send an email to the
entire faculty of the University of Michigan. The email contained
racist remarks in order to tarnish SAFE's image.

Blair:
Israel, Iraq must both obey UN
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that Israel and
Iraq must both obey UN Security Council resolutions, and called
for final status negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians
to begin before the end of the year.

Ariel
Sharon's Secret Plan to Remove Palestinians from Israel
Israels hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered
his defence forces to prepare to drive hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians on the West Bank over the border into Jordan. Intelligence
chiefs say the operation will commence on the day the forthcoming
United States conflict starts against Iraq.

Rights
groups count the wrongs
The Israeli forces have mainly used United States-made Apache helicopters
in their assassination operations. They also used laser-guided missiles
to assassinate Palestinian activists while driving in their cars,
and have fired missiles directly towards civilians, as was the case
with Ali Ajouri from the Askar refugee camp in Nablus on 5 August.
Two Israeli helicopters fired missiles towards Ajouri, claiming
he planned a suicide bombing operation in Israel. His house was
demolished and his brother, Kefah, and sister, Entessar, were deported
to Gaza after being tortured to confess the foreknowledge of their
brother's intentions.

Goliath
wont live in peace with David
There are not two equal sides battling it out in Palestine. Israel
is one of the most heavily militarised states on earth. It is backed
and armed by the US. It has received over $92 billion of US aid
over the last three decades. Then there are the Palestinians, driven
from their own lands, existing in exile, denied justice. Palestinian
oppression and the conflict in the Middle East cannot be ended by
telling them to exist in impoverished rump areas, the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip.

Sharon's
real purpose is to create foreigners
Palestinian suicide bombings that target Israeli civilians are a
moral obscenity. But the sensibility of those in Israel who seek
to exploit this Palestinian obscenity to extend and deepen Israel's
hold on the territories, a situation that in the end can only lead
to the expulsion of most Palestinians and the permanent subjugation
of those who remain, is also obscene.

Israeli
Soldier Killed Boy in Cold Blood, Say British Volunteers
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was deliberately shot dead by an Israeli
soldier without any provocation, say two British human rights volunteers
who witnessed the incident. "This is the worst thing I've seen
in my time here. Actually, it's the worst thing I've seen in my
life. There was no way Baha could have been a threat to a soldier
120 yards away with a flak jacket and a helmet and sitting in an
APC. He had nothing in his hands and even if he'd had a stone he
could not have thrown it effectively from that distance. I went
back today and measured the distance exactly. The shot was not a
ricochet. As far as I'm concerned, these people are child-killers,
whether or not they were aiming at the boy. There was no reason
to shoot."

White
House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre at Sabra and
Shatilla where 1,700 Palestinians were killed. Ariel Sharon was
found by an Israeli Commission of Inquiry to be personally responsible
for that event.

Dear
Mr. President:
As we watched your speech to the United Nations General Assembly
on September 12, 2002, we were struck by the ironic proximity of
the Israeli and Iraqi delegations. Ironic, because many of the accusations
you leveled against Iraq could, with ample justification, be directed
toward Israel. UN
Resolutions

The
Murder of Arafat
While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still alive. But his life
is hanging on a thread. Now Sharon believes that he can achieve
his aim. He needs only Bushs approval. Not necessarily a formal
confirmation. A subtle hint will suffice. Half a word. A wink.

Thousands
Protest Israeli Assault
In the battered compound, Israeli threatened several times over
loudspeakers to blow up the building where Arafat is holed up -
the only one left standing - unless wanted men inside surrendered,
witnesses said.

Israeli
Flag In Arafat's Compound
Israel planted its flag in Yasser Arafat's compound Saturday, and
shell bursts shook his offices, chipping away at the building in
an ever-tightening siege designed to make the Palestinian leader
surrender militants or leave into exile.

Glossary
of Occupation
Language is a powerful yet deceptive thing. It can be used to convey
someone's plight and it can also be used to hide unpalatable sordid
deeds. Nowhere are words adulterated more for political ends than
in Israel and Palestine today.

Israel's
Routine Terrorism
The couple were stopped at the Israeli military roadblock just outside
their village. The soldiers turned them back, even though Fatima
was now haemorrhaging. They got a taxi, hoping that would be allowed
through. Again, they were turned back. No explanation was given;
one soldier mimicked Fatima's moans.

Criticize
Israel? What's in it for me?
In today's world there are a handful of sensitive topics such as
abortion, gay rights and the death penalty that are guaranteed to
bring out the strongest advocates, pro and con, to the front lines,
guns a blazing. But criticism of Israel, which is at the top of
the sensitivity list, sends publishers and pundits alike into overdrive
in favor of the latest AIPAC position. The pro positions way outnumber
the cons because con is seldom permitted.

Grabbing
Rachel's Tomb
The security cabinet's decision to add the Rachel's Tomb compound
to the Jerusalem "security envelope" cannot be described
as anything other than full annexation of the compound.

''It's
the settlements, stupid!''
Were you shown a map of Palestine with the settlements? All those
map-meisters, with their maps of Afghanistan and Iraq, and never
once a picture of the settlements? If they had shown you the maps
of the settlements, you would have understood why the Palestinians
rejected Camp David. VIEW
MAPS

New
INS Rules
In reaction to the September 11th, 2001 attacks, the INS imposed
new regulations on immigrants. Due to the confusion caused by a
multiplicity of new rules, the INS has released an explanation of
new special registration procedures to help smooth the transition
for immigrants from the old system to the new.

Programme
of Assistance to the Palestinian People
Responding to a profound need to alleviate poverty and chronic unemployment
in the Palestinian Territories, the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme/Programme
of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) have launched
a $15 million employment generation program called TASHGHIL,
the Arabic word for creating job opportunities.

PA
blasts Israel over sacred siteThe
Palestinian Authority has condemned a decision by Israel to retain
military control of Rachel's Tomb, a holy site near Bethlehem.

Palestinian
cabinet resigns
The Palestinian cabinet has resigned en masse rather than face defeat
in a vote of no confidence in parliament.

The
world according to Sharon
In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on 6 September,
Sharon declared that "Oslo doesn't exist, Camp David doesn't
exist, Taba doesn't exist; we are not going back to those places."
Sharon's unilateral annulment of the Oslo agreement drew virtually
no objections from the sponsors of the peace process, including
the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, accentuating
what some observers described as the international community's duplicity
in dealing with Israel and the Arabs.

Liberating
America From Israel
Once beloved worldwide, the U.S. government finds itself reviled
in most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli
violations of the United Nations Charter, international law, and
the precepts of all major religious faiths.

Glossary
of Occupation
Language is a powerful yet deceptive thing. It can be used to convey
someone's plight and it can also be used to hide unpalatable sordid
deeds. Nowhere are words adulterated more for political ends than
in Israel and Palestine today.

Israeli
Weapons of Mass Destruction: a Threat to Peace
With between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons and a sophisticated
delivery system, Israel has quietly supplanted Britain as the World's
5th Largest nuclear power, and may currently rival France and China
in the size and sophistication of its nuclear arsenal.

Occupation:
The Father of All TerrorNo one
could testify more to the atrocious terror of occupation more than
the people of the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus. In the last
5 months, they have been under curfew for no less than 112 days.
In fact, in the last 81 days, curfew has been lifted for a total
of ONLY 50 hours, and until the end of this week, the number of
those hours will not increase, as the continuous stretch of 11 days
under strict curfew is set to continue to reach unprecedented heights
of disregard of human rights and dignity.

Inheriting
a history of hatred
Most Muslims have an intense historical awareness and see current
events in a much deeper and broader perspective than Americans normally
do. And what they see is, for them, profoundly tragic.

An
Open Letter to the Immigrant Rights Movement In
the post 911 U.S.A., we face the biggest threat to immigrant rights
of our lifetime. Let us be blunt. If the people are not able to
mobilize and stop the repression against Muslim, Arab, and South
Asian immigrants and prevent the government from laying the foundation
for horrendous repression against all immigrants and the rest of
us, there will be no immigrant rights movement.

This,
American.
In June my wife, Sharon, a pediatric nurse, was working in an emergency
room in Beiruts Akka hospital. Among the first victims of
Israels invasion that month were 35 children on a school bus.
One young boy asked my wife where she came from. When she replied,
"America, the boy lifted up his pajama top, pointed to
his shrapnel wounds, and said: This, American.

Israeli/Zionist
Computer Hackers Foiled, Exposed
Israeli cyber warfare professionals targeted human rights and anti-war
activists across the USA in late July and August temporarily disrupting
communications, harassing hundreds of computer users, and annoying
thousands more. The Israeli hackers targeted Stephen "Sami"
Mashney, an Anaheim, California, attorney active in the effort to
raise awareness of the plight of Palestinians.

Israelis
and U.S. Zionists Escalate Cyber Warfare
Computer hackers based in Israel in conjunction with Zionists and
certain Jews in the United States have just launched a new "cyber
war" offensive against human rights and anti-war activists
and organizations in the U.S. that are in solidarity with the Palestinian
struggle and oppose the Zionist occupation of Palestine. There are
now thousands of organizations and individuals on the World Wide
Web that have been targeted and whose communications disrupted by
a variety of sinister "cyber war techniques."

White
House Calls Israeli Attack Heavy-Handed
In an unusually blunt criticism of Israel, the United States on
Tuesday denounced as "heavy-handed" an Israeli missile
attack that killed more than a dozen Palestinian civilians along
with a leader of the militant group Hamas.

Israel
Will Start Pullout in Gaza and Bethlehem
Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed late today that Israeli
troops would start a trial withdrawal from reoccupied territory
in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem, in the West Bank, on the condition
that the Palestinians take responsibility for reducing tensions
in those places.

Suicide
bombers give an edge to Palestinians
In the last year, the suicide bomber has become the most potent
military weapon in the Palestinian uprising against Israel, creating
a new battlefield that has left one of the world's best trained
and equipped armies struggling to defend its people adequately.

Camps
for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens
he deems to be "enemy combatants" has moved him from merely
being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.

Gaza
Victims Lived in Flats, Not in Shacks
July 30, 2002
Yesterday afternoon, Rami Matar, who lost his baby daughter, Dina,
was released from hospital still unaware his child had been killed.
His brother, Ra'ad, wandered wounded through the rubble. He lost
his wife, Iman, and three children, Dalia, 5, Muhammed, 3, and Iman,
1.

Israel
Put 'On Notice' By US Over Gaza Attack
US displeasure over Israels use of a American-built F-16 fighter
last week has been muted, but not silent. The attack in which an
Israeli fighter jet dropped a one-ton bomb on a crowded Gaza City
apartment block killing a leader of the Palestinian group Hamas,
14 civilians and wounding over 150 people, has angered US officials.

Bill
Banning Arab Citizens from Buying Israeli Land Assailed
Israeli human rights groups are denouncing a bill backed by the
government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that, if passed, would
bar Israeli Arabs from buying homes in Jewish communities built
on state land as a violation of Israel's constitutional guarantees
against discrimination on the basis of race or religion.

Israel
Refuses Entry to 18 Americans
Israel barred 18 Americans from entering the country and put them
on a flight back to the United States on Tuesday as part of a policy
of refusing entry to foreigners who want to show solidarity with
the Palestinians.

Moderate
Muslims Under Siege
Moderate Muslim intellectuals living in the West have been fighting
a thankless battle, often in the shadows, for the very soul of their
religion.

What
drives ordinary people to kill civilians - and themselves?
In the annals of the Palestinian uprising, it is all but forgotten
that Nabil Arir was the first. On the morning of October 26 2000,
the attendant at a school for disabled children, described by his
friends as a gentle, deeply religious young man,rode his cycle up
to an Israeli army post in the centre of the Gaza Strip, and blew
himself up.

IPDP in
Route to Palestine
A Delegation of North American activists, poets, writers, artists
and students are joining the delegation of INTERNATIONAL POPULAR
DEFENDERS FOR PALESTINE (IPDP), in active solidarity with the Palestinian
people, to witness, monitor, document, publicize human rights abuses
and war crimes committed by the Israeli Army, settlers and government,
and to intervene in an attempt to stop human rights abuses whenever
possible. The Canadian and American Delegation is sponsored by the
Palestine Solidarity Group-North America and Popular Defense for
Palestine-NY. The delegation left New York on June 19 and arrived
on June 21st. They plan to stay one month. They will be sending
periodic reports.

Watch
What You Say
Nobody so distorts, denigrates and defames Islam as radical Muslims
themselves, particularly the mullahs who try to have people executed
for saying "peace be with you."

Arafat
pleads for the bombings to stop
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, made an impassioned plea
to his people yesterday to end all attacks on Israeli civilians,
as the Israeli army swept once more into West Bank cities in reprisal
for two suicide bombings in Jerusalem that left 26 Israelis dead
and more than 100 wounded.

America
Keeps Doing Israel's Bidding
Arabs are dismayed by the fact that American positions concerning
the Middle East have in effect been subordinated to Israel's will.
The injunction comes from Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel,
and the accommodation from the American president, George W. Bush.

Culture
of charity
Giving to charity is an integral part of the Islamic faith. The
third obligatory pillar of Islam is Zakat, where a person must give
away a percentage of their income to help others. It comprises 2.5%
of surplus earnings at the end of the year. Muslims are also encouraged
to make irregular payments - Sadaqah - to the needy.

ACTION:
Stop The Illegal Detention And Brutalization Of Palestinian Activist
Jaoudat Abouazza!
On Sunday June 16, two members of the Jaoudat Abouazza Defense Committee
were able to visit Abouazza in INS custody in the Bristol County
Correctional Facility in North Dartmouth, Mass. They learned that
at 10:00 AM that morning, prison guards forcibly took Abouazza from
his cell and restrained him in a chair while a man with a surgical
mask on forced open his mouth and pulled 4 teeth. A broken piece
of a tooth was left in his mouth, leaving Abouazza in much physical
pain, swollen, bleeding and unable to eat.

Ted
Turner Accuses Israel of Terror
"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers,
that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most
powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing.
So who are the terrorists?

Israeli
Shell Hits Arafat's Bedroom
Yasser Arafat's master bedroom took a direct hit during Israel's
assault on his sprawling headquarters Thursday. A coat of dust covered
the Palestinian leader's bed, the nightstand mirror was smashed
and knee-high rubble littered the floor of the adjacent bathroom.

Israel's
Forces Storm Into Nablus, Imposing Curfew
Israeli tanks and troops stormed into Nablus and its neighboring
Balata refugee camp before dawn today, rounding up about a hundred
Palestinians, in the largest of the daily raids since its virtual
occupation of most West Bank cities in April.

Our
Crazy Foreign Policy
United States foreign policy is currently as wrong-headed and imperialistic
as at any time in memory.

Tanks,
troops storm Bethlehem again
Helmeted and weighed down by their bullet-proof armor, Israeli soldiers
backed by dozens of tanks reoccupied Bethlehem yesterday and declared
the West Bank town a "closed military zone"

US
backs Palestinian state
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has reiterated America's support
for the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

"Security
for Israel, Palestine, & U.S.A. Means End the Occupation."
On May 2, 2002 both the US Senate and Congress passed a resolution
expressing solidarity with Israel. Senators Levin and Stabenow and
Rep. Stupak all voted in favor of the resolution indicating continued
strong support for Israel. Anytime you in town and can picket Senators
Levin, Stabenow and Rep. Stupak's offices for half an hour or more,
let Tom know at 946-3693 or shea@traverse.com

Enron,
Sharon, Bush  Good for Laughs?
Sharon is demanding that Yasser Arafat Do Something about the terrorists.
This adds an even more surreal element of black comedy to the tragedy.
Assuming Arafat is not himself the head terrorist, as Sharon claims,
with what, exactly, is he supposed to do about anything? Sharon
has been destroying Arafat's Palestinian Authority piece by piece
for months now and has just finished an attack that demolished the
last elements. Even assuming he had the will, Arafat has no way.

Israelis
Rally for Pullout From West Bank, Gaza
Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied on Saturday night to call
for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories in what organizers
said was the biggest peace Police estimated the crowd at about 50,000.
Peace Now put the figure at above 100,000, calling it the biggest
peace rally demonstration for 20 years.

Likud
Central Committee rejects Palestinian state
At a raucous meeting in Tel Aviv, Sharon and Netanyahu went head-to-head
over whether the party should vote on the resolution calling for
the complete rejection of a Palestinian state. Sharon desperately
tried to prevent the vote, arguing that it would precipitate international
pressure on Israel and tie his hands diplomatically.

Gods
Dream
The governments marketing this war on terror would like us to believe
that it is particularly pure and just. Of course this type of sales
pitch has been tried a couple of times before, and the world is
still waiting for a pure and just war. What Gandhi said is more
credible: I object to violence because when it appears to
do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Alas, in the Year of the Monkey, the words of George
W. Bush receive far more notice than those of Mohandas K. Gandhi,
or of Albert Einstein, who wrote: Peace cannot be kept by
force. It can only be achieved through understanding."

Bush
Approach on Mideast Conflict "Out of Step" with U.S. Public
The United States public is not nearly as supportive of the Israeli
government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict as recent actions by Congress and the Bush administration
suggest. Despite almost unanimous votes last week by both houses
of Congress expressing strong support for Israel's recent military
actions in the West Bank, the poll found very little public backing
for those operations.

UPDATE
May 8th: Legal Agreement Rescinded The
5 American internationals who have been on hunger strike struck
a deal with the Ministry of Interior regarding their ultimate fate.
They agreed to leave voluntarily providing that they received a
letter confirming that they were not deported and that there were
assurances regarding their ability to return, should they wish to
do so.

There
is a Solution to This Filthy War - Foreign Occupation
Ariel Sharon's "peace" plan presented to President Bush
in Washington last night  get rid of Arafat, devise a more
obedient Palestinian Authority and keep building settlements for
Jews and Jews only on Palestinian land  is fantasy. That the
Americans should smooth his way by claiming that Arafat's need to
reform his authority is more important than a halt to settlement-building
 the gormless contribution of Condoleezza Rice, the US National
Security Adviser, to this sterile debate  shows just how out
of touch the Bush administration is.

Leave
Our Kids Alone
Some Palestinian groups have called for a ban on suicide bombings
by teenagers. If Palestinian families are finally speaking out against
manipulation of their youth by Palestinian officials, they could
bring new hope to the region.

Israel
Vows Harsh Response to Attack
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who received word of Tuesday's
pool hall bombing during a White House meeting with President Bush,
cut short his trip and promised swift retaliation. Palestinian officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said they widely expected the
Gaza Strip to be targeted by Israel.

Arafat
orders end to 'terrorist' attacks
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ordered his security forces
to prevent "all terrorist operations" against Israelis
after a suicide bomber killed 15 people and himself in an attack
near Tel Aviv.

U.N.
Assembly chastises Israel 74-4
With 54 nations abstaining as a protest over what they called an
imbalanced resolution, the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday condemned
by 74-4 vote Israel's West Bank offensive.

UN
Says Israel Caused $300-400 Million in Damage
A senior U.N. official on Monday estimated that Israel's military
offensive in the West Bank caused between $300 million and $400
million damage to Palestinian property and reconstruction would
take at least a year.

The
settlements / A point for pressure on Sharon
If the United States and Saudi Arabia are serious about pressing
Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon to stop the cycle of Palestinian-Israeli
violence, a good starting point for the United States would be the
volatile issue of Jewish settlements.

The
Palestinians Must Seize Back Their Pride
Arafat's release is only one side of the coin. On every other front
Sharon has has got his way. Blair, and President Bush, huffed and
puffed about immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory.
And what have they got? Israeli tanks rolling into Tulkarm yesterday,
another assassination (or "targeted killing" as the Israelis
term it) and dozens more arrests.

Talks
aim to end Nativity standoff
On the eve of Orthodox Easter, serious high-level negotiations were
under way, aimed at resolving the month-old standoff at one of Christianity's
holiest shrines, Palestinian officials said.

Inside
the Church of the Nativity
An American activist who snuck past Israeli troops to deliver food
uses her cellphone to report that there's plenty of illness, very
little food and absolutely no militants hiding inside.

Arafat
Emerges Defiant From Israeli Siege02.05.2002A
defiant Yasser Arafat emerged from his shattered headquarters Thursday
for the first time since the end of a month-long Israeli siege,
flashing a V-for-victory sign to cheering supporters.

Land
Ownership in Palestine/Israel
Control over territories, land use and ownership are central issues
to the Palestinian-Israeli struggle. what follows is a historical
overview of the system of land ownership in Palestine, followed
by an examination of the methods by which the Israeli Government
and the Jewish agencies acquired land in Palestine.

Debate
with Tikkun on The Right of Return Michael Lerner wrote: Would you be interested in participating
in a roundtable discussion on the telephone or writing a piece for
us on "the right of return"? Please let me know if and
when you'd want to write something or when in the next week you'd
be available for a phone call (give my your phone number, please).

Anti-Semitism
Is Deepening Among Muslims
Stay in a five-star hotel anywhere from Jordan to Iran, and you
can buy the infamous forgery "Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
Pick up a newspaper in any part of the Arab world and you regularly
see a swastika superimposed on the Israeil flag.

Behind
the Rage
The Arab world is outraged in large part because it is Israel that
is killing Arabs this time, but the outrage is sincere....

Israel:
4,185 Palestinians Detained
Israel pulled out of two dozen small West Bank towns and villages
Thursday, but swept into others and rounded up more Palestinian
men despite international pressure to end the 2-week-old campaign
to root out militants.

America
Can Persuade Israel to Make a Just Peace
In January 1996, with full support from Israel and responding to
the invitation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Carter
Center helped to monitor a democratic election in the West Bank
and Gaza, which was well organized, open and fair. In that election,
88 members were elected to the Palestinian National Authority, with
Yasir Arafat as president. Legally and practically, the Palestinian
people were encouraged to form their own government, with the expectation
that they would soon have full sovereignty as a state. (by former
President Jimmy Carter)

The
moral simplifier
Bush is ill-suited for a peacekeeping role in the Middle East. The
Israelis and the Palestinians are not condemned to some eternal
hell where they have to kill each other forever. There is no military
solution, but there is a political solution -- and they will get
there. The United States is obliged to broker the deal because there's
no one else to do it.

Israel,
Palestine and Justice
When Israelis and Palestinians demonize each other, it is the people
who suffer. Both sides need to accept responsibility and find a
non-violent path to a just peace.

This
will be the week when we see who runs the US-Israeli alliance
Suddenly Israel doesn't want to take our advice. Ex-general Ariel
Sharon prefers to go on wrecking the Palestinian Authority, tearing
up the Oslo agreement in the name of his Holy War on terror. Why
should he worry about the scandalous number of civilian casualties
among the Palestinians? After all, didn't America wreak its own
revenge  killing thousands of innocent civilians in one of
the poorest countries on Earth

34 years
of israeli policy have laid the groundwork for its unholy war in
the west bank and gaza
I witnessed on the ground the rapid growth of Israel's settlements
and the seizure of Palestinian land and water for them: today over
half the West Bank's resources now are in Israel's hands. About
a third of Gaza's resources have suffered the same fate.

Sharon's
War: How the News Gets Through
Here we are, twenty years on , and many of the reports of what's
been happening as the Israeli army smashes its way through Ramallah
and Bethlehem and the other Palestinian towns remind me of what
came out of Lebanon in 1982 as Sharon and his invading army raced
north: Israeli troops beating, looting, destroying; Palestinian
families huddling in refugee camps, waiting for the killers to come.

The
Bloody Battle of Bethlehem
If the Church of the Nativity is now a battleground, what is sacred
any longer? The details are as indistinct as the smoke that still
rises close to Manger Square, but Christian officials speak of at
least 100 Palestinian civilians seeking the sanctuary of the church
that marks the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born in
a stable.

Violence
And Excuses In The Mideast
Many Americans have been cowed into silence about Israeli aggression.
But they should say aloud what they really feel: that Israel is
behaving immorally and even savagely.

The
Madness Of Ariel Sharon
The bloody campaign against the Palestinians is in keeping with
the Israeli Prime Minister's violent history. But why is the White
House participating in his vendetta?

Deadly and
destructive invasion of Ramallah continues
The Israeli army is currently attacking the site of the Preventive
Security Forces in Ramallah with tanks and helicopter gunships,
in what has been a continuous bombardment and shelling since last
night. There are children inside the building which is now on fire,
and the Israeli soldiers are preventing ambulances and the fire
brigade from reaching the scene.

Violence
Erupts as 2,000 Peace Activists Try to Bring Food, Medicine to Ramallah
Police yesterday used tear gas and batons to prevent a peace march
of some 2,000 protesting Israeli Jews and Arabs from delivering
truckloads of food and medicine to besieged Ramallah.

Why
Suicide Terrorism Takes Root
Suicide bombings are immensely empowering to many people in the
Middle East who no longer believe that their governments can do
anything to relieve their humiliation and improve their conditions.

Deadly
Crisis in the Middle East
Tragically, as the Middle East boils over into a cruel war, we are
stuck with leaders -- Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush -- who see
brute force as the only solution to rebellion and historical disagreement.
Suicide bombers and brutal occupation cannot breed peace, only future
horrors. It's the time to be informed, make our voices heard and
fight for a peaceful solution.

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